HILDCAA‐Related GIC and Possible Corrosion Hazard in Underground Pipelines: A Comparison Based on Wavelet Transform

• Published in: Space Weather 2019-02, Vol.17 (2), p.238-251
• Main Authors: Khanal, Krishna, Adhikari, Binod, Chapagain, Narayan P., Bhattarai, Binod
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alfven waves; Auroral electrojet; Auroral electrojets; Circuits; Continuous wavelet transform; Coronal mass ejection; Corotating Interaction Regions (CIR); Corrosion; Corrosion effects; Electric currents; Electric power distribution; Electrojets; Gas pipelines; Geomagnetism; GIC; HILDCAA; Magnetic reconnection; Magnetohydrodynamics; Magnetopause; Morlet wavelet; Natural gas; Periodicities; pipeline corrosion; Pipelines; Plane waves; Service stations; Spectral analysis; Storms; Transmission lines; Underground corrosion; wavelet transform; Wavelet transforms
• ISSN: 1542-7390; 1539-4964; 1542-7390
• DOI: 10.1029/2018SW001879

High‐intensity long‐duration continuous auroral electrojet activities (HILDCAAs) are recognized as the continuous (duration >2 days) auroral electrojet activities (AE > 1,000 nT) caused by interplanetary Alfvén waves driving magnetic reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause. This paper focuses on the study of geoeffectiveness of HILDCAA on the basis of associated geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) and pipe‐to‐soil voltage (PSV) observed in an underground pipeline at Finnish Natural Gas Station, Mäntsälä. In this study, 113 HILDCAAs with different interplanetary sources (72 corotating interaction region‐storm preceded, 29 interplanetary coronal mass ejection‐storm preceded, and 12 nonstorm) have been selected and their possible contributions in underground pipeline corrosion have been quantitatively compared by assessing GIC/PSV profiles for each of these events. In addition, the spectral characteristics of GIC during these events have been studied using continuous wavelet transforms. The Morlet wavelet has been applied to 10‐s modeled GIC data corresponding to each event to explore the main band structures and the periodicities found in GIC spectrum. GIC/PSV modeling is based on plane wave method and distributed source transmission line analogy between pipelines and electric circuits. HILDCAAs are found to drive a small‐amplitude, but continuous, fluctuation in GIC throughout the event duration of several days. This makes the cumulative effect of HILDCAAs in pipeline corrosion noteworthy. The spectral analysis shows that GIC possesses both short‐term, as well as continuous, power distribution with different periodicities. CIR‐preceded HILDCAAs are found to be more geoeffective while taking associated GIC and PSV into account. Possible physical explanations supporting the results have been presented. Key Points Wavelet transform applied to geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) during HILDCAAs reveals the main periodicities of ~1.5–3 and ~12 hr HILDCAA events do not constitute large amplitude fluctuations in GIC; however, these events are important for their cumulative effects HILDCAAs preceded by corotating interaction regions are relatively more geoeffective